 We've previously talked about how certain attempts to censor LGBTQ plus content haven't gone so well I mean sure there's lots of book bans across the country, but some of them have Backfired in tremendous fashion. For example, Utah Republican Ken Ivory drafted a bill that later became a law That allowed parents to challenge any book from school libraries that they deemed inappropriate With the intent obviously being to embolden anti-LGBTQ plus bigots But after the Bible was challenged and subsequently banned temporarily Ken Ivory Literally called on Utah's legislature to amend his own bill in order to prevent that from happening again Which is something that he should fear considering the fact that the Book of Mormon is also up for review in Utah And could be banned as the Bible was but now we have another instance and perhaps my favorite where an attempt to censor LGBTQ plus content It backfired and really to say that it backfired would be the understatement of the century So let's talk about it So this pride display at one San Diego library set off a firestorm even though it is incredibly meager In fact, it's so small that according to the New York Times Adrienne Peterson the manager of the Rancho Pinyes Kitos branch of the San Diego Public Library Was actually a little embarrassed by the modest size of her pride month display in June between staff Vacations and organizing workshops for graduating high school students It had fallen through the cracks and fell short of what she had hoped for and sure It's a little lacking, but I think that she's being too hard on herself. Really. It's the thought that counts, right? It's just a little something to make LGBTQ plus people feel seen at a time of heightened bigotry So, you know, I appreciate her sentiment here, but this display is adorable. It's cute Even if it is very small in size But regardless of how small and meager this display was two local moms Amy Vance and Martha Martin were Absolutely apoplectic at the site of this fucking display and they were so mad that they decided to take action So what did they do? Well, they decided to check out almost all of the books From the library that are all LGBTQ plus related They couldn't get them all obviously because some of them are already checked out they couldn't find all of them but they checked out as many as they could and They held those items hostage until the library agreed to pay a ransom so When I say pay a ransom what I really mean is they demanded that all LGBTQ plus related books be removed Otherwise, they would never see those LGBTQ plus books that they checked out again because they were threatening to never return them so we've We've got a bit of a kidnapping situation going on and they even sent a ransom note to the library via email Which reads as taxpayers in the city of San Diego and long-time library patrons We are writing to protest the Pride Month display in the children's section of the San Diego Rancho Pena Skeetos public library to protect our children and the community We have checked out the books in the pride display We plan to keep these books checked out until the library agrees to permanently remove the inappropriate content from the shelves Flags signs and book displays based on how adults experience sexual attraction and gender identity Have no place in an open and public space for children now what they're doing is deeply bigoted and unserious But I have to admit it is genuinely hilarious. I don't know if we've ever had a situation where Books have been held hostage and then a ransom Was demanded in the form of a policy concession from the library but just to kind of show you how Insane these two moms are these were some of the books that they were holding hostage that they thought were offensive one of them was Morris Michael White and the tangerine dress which is a book about a little boy who loves using his imagination But he also loves his classrooms dress up center specifically because of the tangerine dress that he likes to wear Wow, I mean this is functionally pornography and How dare at the library put this in the kids section this should be in the 18 plus section But there's another one Julian is a mermaid a picture book about a boy who becomes inspired by seeing people in mermaid costumes I mean hearing about this. I I'm deeply offended because I mean think of how many kids have been trans'd by seeing this book if they see it Boom like that. They'll be trans immediately. I just How can you not laugh because these people are so Unserious that even if what they're doing is deeply bigoted and wrong and immoral. It's just This is what they're throwing a tantrum about now There's reason to believe that these moms weren't acting alone because the New York Times points out the text of their email was Identical to a template posted online by a right-wing group called Catholic vote Which is an office in Indiana and it's not affiliated with the Catholic Church The group has promoted a hide-the-pride campaign that encourages supporters to check out or move books that depict LGBTQ characters and families Organizers have described such material as Pornographic and obscene and said it should not be available to young library patrons So I mean I joke about how Morris McElwight and the tangerine dress is functionally pornography But they're literally saying that unironically they think that these children's books Where a kid wears a dress who happens to be a boy? Uh-oh sounds kind of gay They actually think that that is tantrum out to pornographic content It's just insane, but the fact that their email matches the The template posted by this group that's very conspicuous, right? And it's interesting how little this group is hiding the fact that they just want queer people to go back into the closet I mean hide the pride is basically a synonym for Get the fuck back in the closet queers So it's not about kids Obviously, this is about them being bigoted and out wanting to see LGBTQ plus content wanting LGBTQ plus people To go back into the closet and to not be seen However to the chagrin of these bigots the tiny little pride section that they were outraged by is now going to grow Bigger than it has ever been before perhaps. It'll be the biggest one in the area Specifically because of their little stunt because they got the attention that they wanted these moms who decided to hold this entire LGBTQ plus section hostage they got what they wanted right because when you do a protest you want all eyeballs to notice it But unfortunately this did not lead to them getting supported it led to the library getting support So the story was picked up by the San Diego Tribune and went semi viral in the area Which put it on the radar of San Diego City Council member Monty von Wolpert and what happened next is? Absolutely mind-boggling the New York Times continues in San Diego supporters of LGBTQ rights were quick to counter opponents The city council member who represents Rancho Pina Skeetos Monty von Wolpert Condemned the library protest against pride books and asked the community to help restore the display Stacks of Amazon books containing new copies of the books the protesters checked out Started to arrive at the library after the San Diego Union Tribune reported on the protest roughly 180 people mostly San Diegans gave more than $15,000 to the library system which after a city match will provide over $30,000 towards more LGBTQ themed materials and programming Including an expansion of the system's already popular Drag Queen story hours, and here's the best part at the Rancho Pina Skeetos library The pride display has since been replenished as for the books checked out last month. They were recently Returned amazing just absolutely amazing. They ended up returning the books that they held hostage when The people in this community refused to cave to their tyrannical bigoted demands You love to see it and needless to say these moms fucked around and these moms found out and They have yet to comment about this story and go on the record after making a big stink about the protest and saying hey Look at me all of a sudden now They don't want to be seen because they were just defeated, but not only that they were utterly humiliated and because of their actions Well now that library is going to have the biggest LGBTQ plus display ever So thank you for your service moms really appreciate that glad that you were able to help out the cause. Thank you so much and This story reminds me of the latest season of the righteous gemstones I don't know how many of you watched that I'd highly recommend it but the righteous gemstones is a show about a mega church pastor and his dysfunctional family and in the latest season his youngest son Calvin who runs the youth group formed this group called smut busters were him and The younger people at the church they go around and they buy out local porn shops So that way they can stop people from getting this terrible material, right? The problem with that is the store owners love this and they have vans filled with dildos and Sex toys that they don't know what to do with so they're trying to burn them And on top of that the parents of the kids were part of this group Upon finding out that this is what they're doing now. They think that they're perverts So, you know, they're a little stunt backfired, right? They tried to make a statement and the opposite of what they wanted to happen ended up happening they did a good thing inadvertently and This reminds me of a real life version of that, right? It's it's relatively Semi satirical in a sense, right, but on a serious note There have been more than 2,500 books to be challenged last year alone And this is according to the American Library Association, which is a massive increase from the previous year, which I believe was a 38% jump So this one anecdote It's not going to stop bigots across the country from forcing their religious agenda on all of us But this story is still really important because it demonstrates that the bad guys do lose sometimes, right? When we see hundreds of anti LGBTQ plus laws pop up across the country and it feels like we've gone so far back With regard to LGBTQ plus rights and acceptance in this country Sometimes the bad guys lose the bigots get embarrassed And in an environment where republican presidential contenders are trying to out fascist each other and trying to Basically be the most cruel To marginalize people it's just really nice to see Ordinary americans come together once in a while for a good cause. So good on everyone in this community for doing this I'm absolutely So elated to hear that they were able to defeat these bigots And i'm glad that these moms are feeling embarrassed right now because they should and they should really rethink their um their life choices Ideology